Gadgets Mobile

NewsNomad is a new mobile phone friendly news aggregator that has two interesting features. First, its news links lead to other mobile friendly (easily read on mobile phones) pages from major news sites such as Reuters, CNN, and Time Magazine. This means that you won’t be thrown to a huge web page with lots of images that may be difficult and slow to render on your phone. Second, it has a Digg-like voting scheme that lets you vote news items up (but not down). Unlike Digg, you do not need to create an account and login to vote on articles.

You can find NewsNonad at: http://newsnomad.com/

by Nilay Patel, posted Aug 1st 2008 at 12:42PMWe don’t take much stock in Digitimes rumors, but the negative chatter about NVIDIA just keeps getting louder — in addition to that nasty defective GPU situation, word is that problems with the nForce line might lead the company to exit the chipset business entirely. According the Inquirer, mobos based on the high-end 790i line have already been pulled by several manufacturers, including Foxconn and Gigabyte, and apparently NVIDIA is asking motherboard makers if it should stay in the chipset game at all and getting lukewarm reactions. Of course, NVIDIA was talking about taking Intel head-on just a few short months ago, so it would be backing down pretty hard if it went back to just making GPUs — not to mention that SLI would essentially die without mobo support and platform initiatives like Tegra would lose tons of momentum. We seriously doubt that the situation is that dire, but right now NVIDIA needs to come out and take control of this mess — where are all the trash-talking execs now?

Read - Inquirer report on 790i chips being discontinued
Read - Digitimes report on chipset rumors

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 1st 2008 at 9:22AM
Look, we’ll be the first to hand over an adequate amount of kudos each time artificial intelligence is improved, but we won’t lie — we’re kind of scared about giving our vehicles too many smarts. Yamaha Motors has just unveiled a comparatively affordable electric bike which looks to continuously monitor your driving behavior and react accordingly. The PAS Brace features the highly touted S.P.E.C.8 mechanism, which keeps a close eye on your speed, acceleration and gear position in order to conserve battery life when possible and provide just the right amount of oomph to get you over that one… last… hill. This one is set to land in Japan on the same day the Olympics begin for ¥125,800 ($1,171), and if you’re not feelin’ the black, red and white flavors will be available for your pedaling pleasure.

[Via CrunchGear]

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Filed under: Transportation

Every day, millions of people take to the roads as solitary drivers in their automobiles. This seems to be a complete waste of energy as most cars have room for at least three other passengers. Assuming the solitary driver can’t find an convenient carpool, why not switch to a speedy, energy-efficient vehicle that can hold just one driver?

This is the concept behind the Bricycle, a three-wheeled wonder designed by someone named Brian. Yes, he named it after himself, but see the name as a descriptor, and not as a reflection of ego. After all, this isn’t any normal bicycle or tricycle, but a motorized trike that is like no other.

This Bricycle is made of plywood, epoxy, and fiberglass cloth. It is powered by a 48-volt motor at the front, and is capable of 21 speeds.

Brian has stated that his Bricycle prototype is nearing completion, and I certainly see a lot of potential. I have seen other conceptual one-manned vehicles that can turn an ordinary road into a two-way highway since they take up half the space. Considering the amount of cars on the road, vehicles like the Bricycle might be the only way to reduce traffic.

Not only that, the Bricycle is completely electrical, so we can reduce our dependence on oil. Anything that can help out with fighting overpopulation and pollution can only be a good thing.

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Things get even hotter with the Helios BBQ Grill, for one reason - it is solar powered. The idea isn’t new, but at least it presents the concept in a much more professional manner. The Helios Grill, in essence, will amplify the sun’s rays just enough so that you will be able to feed an army of hungry kids. I’d slap a healthy dose of sunblock on myself first before manning the grill though, since I’ll most probably have to stand there, flipping beef patties and burger buns all day long under the unforgiving scorching sun. Another thing you don’t have to worry about would be leaving a larger carbon footprint behind at each summer cookout.

Sony has recently began to venture into the Chinese market, and they did this by announcing the new, fancy, and pretty expensive PMX-M80 portable media player.

One of the key features of this PMP is that it comes with preloaded maps, similar to Google Maps, which could be found on the iphone. These maps also come with POI’s. In addition, it comes with a GPSesque 4.3-inch screen with a 480 x 272 resolution, 16GB hard drive, voice recorder, up to 6 hours of video playback, expandable memory via memory stick, and a lot of format support including SRS 3D audio, MP4, AVI, WMA, MP3, and AAC.

As on now, Sony is retailing the device for 2,260 Yuan, or about $331 US.

Via [PMP Today]

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by Darren Murph, posted Aug 1st 2008 at 8:01AM
The S2000HD a bit too large for your nimble hands? Fret not, as Fujifilm itself seems to have leaked information on a smattering of point-and-shoots. Up first is the $199.99 FinePix J150w (pictured), which features a 10-megapixel sensor, 5x optical zoom, 3-inch lcd monitor, face detection / red-eye removal and an SD / SDHC card slot. The $189.99 J110w steps down to a 2.7-inch LCD, while the J100 comes in at $179.99 with a few less extras. The J15 ($139.99) gets doused in black or silver and includes an 8.2-megapixel sensor and 3x optical zoom; there’s a J12 slipped in there as well, though it was already available in the Great North. Who knows when Fujifilm plans on making these official and releasing them worldwide, but considering the specs, we know you won’t lose too much sleep worrying over it.

[Via 1001noisycameras]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

The original Eee PC 701, its an almost forgotten model of the Eee lineup, which is sad because its not a bad model, but Asus has since taken the Eee name and filled it to the breaking point with newer, better, slightly bigger and of course more expensive models.

However it seems there is some hope for that good old Eee PC 701, the latest info is coming courtesy of some leaked slides, but it looks like Asus will be returning to the 701 model with the introduction of a 701SD, 701SD (30GB) and 701SD (4GB).

We don’t have any news to report on pricing, but we can only hope that Asus will be returning to where they began and are looking to get back on track as far as offering a low-priced netbook. Lets hope they can get down to a $299 or even lower price tag and really shake things up like they did in the beginning.

Otherwise, the details are light, however we do know that the new 701 models will be available in white or black and they are wearing the Eee badging as opposed to the Asus badge. The only real difference we can tell from the slides in terms of design is the button below the trackpad is not a clear left and right instead of the one long button that was on the original 701.

As more information comes available, you can be sure we will let you know.

Read [Laptop Mag]

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by Darren Murph, posted Jul 31st 2008 at 7:36PMIf you didn’t think every single third-party peripheral provider would try to snag a piece of the band game pie, we guess you thought wrong, huh? With outfits like Mad Catz and Ion already jumping in, it was only a matter of time before Logitech threw on its tightest jeans, blacked out its blond hair and threw up some horns. Details are admittedly scarce, but the company has promised to provide “premium instruments” for Guitar Hero: World Tour on PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii. Rockers can expect the new gear to start shipping “later this year,” though prices, designs and pretty much anything else of importance remains a mystery.

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Microsoft has decided to take legal action against the Taiwanese manufacturer Primax Electronics Ltd. due to a number of patent infringements relating to mouse hardware.

According to Microsoft, they have been attempting to get Primax to take out a license for the patents rather than take legal action against them, but the company have shown no interest in doing so. A complaint has been filed with the International Trade Commission and Microsoft hopes to stop Primax from selling its goods in the US at the very least.

The patents in question relate to the way in which a mouse auto detects between PS/2 and USB connections and using mouse wheel tilting for navigation and magnification. In all Microsoft claims 7 patent infringements and also points out other Taiwanese manufacturers have agreed to pay license fees.

Horacio Gutierrez, vice president and deputy counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing for Microsoft, released the following statement regarding the action against Primax:

Microsoft has filed an action today with the ITC after making repeated attempts during the past several years to engage in meaningful licensing discussions with Primax. Microsoft has an open intellectual property licensing policy, but in situations such as this, in which a reasonable licensing agreement cannot be reached despite our best efforts, we have no choice but to pursue legal action to protect our innovations.

To date, more than 20 companies have licensed the U2, Tilt Wheel and Magnifier technologies from Microsoft as part of our successful hardware licensing program. Primax’s practice of using our innovations without taking a patent license is unfair to the many companies that have already licensed our technology, so we are taking action to protect both our partners and our innovations.

Read more at Microsoft, found via ZDNet UK

Matthew’s Opinion
If Microsoft has given Primax a chance to take out a license for several years and they have refused; then its about time action was taken. This will cost money, but should end in them receiving license payments back-dated for the years they have been infringing, plus ongoing license payments in the future. Alternatively, it could send Primax out of business and Microsoft is left to pay court costs.

Microsoft, like any other company, has the right to protect its patents if they are valid and in this case they seem to be. It is also unfair, as they state, that other companies are paying licenses and Primax isn’t That means Primax can undercut them on price because their manufacturing costs are unfairly cheaper.